The present invention relates to the field of directing ventilating air in a ventilating system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a pivot slide door mechanism for directing air through one or another of two selected air pathways in a ventilating system.
In automotive ventilating systems and in ventilating systems generally there exists a need to direct air as desired through respective air pathways. The air can be directed by dampers, doors, and various mechanisms to where ever it is the ventilating system designer would like the air to proceed under any selected design condition. For example, in a vehicle it is sometimes the desire to recirculate air within the vehicle as opposed to drawing fresh in from outside of the vehicle compartment. To accomplish this system requirement a recirc housing is provided that includes a door mechanism for selectively enabling fresh air into the vehicle or prohibiting this from occurring. Likewise, a design requirement may be to pass air through the air conditioning evaporator but not through the heater core. To accomplish this directing of ventilating air typically requires a so called xe2x80x9ctemperature doorxe2x80x9d which may be combined with one or more doors to be built into the ventilating system depending on packaging and component restrictions as well as air path requirements.
Whenever a ventilating system adds functional characteristics, added hardware and controls for the hardware necessarily follows. Along with the added tooling comes added complexity and interaction of respective operations and, owing to the foregoing factors, an increase in the likelihood of total or partial system failure. In addition, particularly in vehicle mounted systems, physical spacing between the mechanism and their control elements becomes increasingly a consideration as limited space becomes even more so.
The prior art has many complex devices for directing air in automobile mounted HVAC systems. However, the complexity only adds cost to the design process, adds cost to the manufacture, and further constrains space behind the vehicle dash.
In view of the drawbacks and disadvantages identified in the prior art, it is an object of this invention to provide a simpler and more reliable mechanism for directing air selectively in air pathways of a ventilating system. The mechanism includes a single door for controlling airflow between two separate pathways. The door is mounted so as to pivot and slide simultaneously between two positions at respective end positions of its movement. At each end position, one or the other of the air pathways is totally blocked and, in positions between the respective end positions, air can be directed to either air pathway in any desired combination.
This single slide door mechanism can be incorporated into a ventilating system at any or multiple locations therein where selective directing of air between two paths is necessary. For example, the pivot slide door of the present invention may be used as a recirculating air control door for selectively choosing to recirculate air, select fresh air, or any combination in between. In another example, the door of the present invention may be used to select air pathways directing ventilating air either through the heater core or through the A/C evaporator. In another example, the door of the present invention may be used in plural form so as to provide separate temperature selections for different locations along the ventilating system.